#1. Concert photography

Like Zack Arias said in one of his portfolio review videos: if you put concert shots into your portfolio, they better be the best goddamn concert shots ever. They’re not.

Look, I know how it is: you finally bought yourself a sweet DSLR. Sweet to you, it’s probably a low end POS, but it can still rock ISO 1600 like nobody’s business. You got yourself that 50mm f/1.8, it’s a little long for shooting around, but perfect to get a body shot at that concert you’re going to at that club next week. You get there, stand a bit off to the side so you don’t have to fight the crowd in the middle, and get a little closer.

And then you take 200 of the most mind-numbingly boring pictures you will ever take.

Oh look, it’s dudes with guitars. Fuck yeah!(?)

Sure, you had a good time, the music was great, there was a vibe. You didn’t capture it. Nobody cares about concert pics, not even the band. If it’s their first concert or four they might, but after that… no. This is your baseline, anything less and it’s not worth anybody’s time.